Quote
This conservative version of fairness is wired deeply in the human brain, and liberals ignore it at their peril. In the laboratory, psychologists study the roots of economic and political attitudes through exercises like the ultimatum game, in which one player (the allocator) makes an offer to another player (the recipient) about how to split a small pot of money put up by the researchers. The recipient can accept the other player’s offer and take the cash—or reject it, in which case neither player gets anything. Not surprisingly, when the allocator offers a 50-50 split, recipients accept it.
However, very unfair offers, such as a 90-10 split favoring the allocator, are often rejected by recipients, even though 10 percent of the pot is better than no money at all. When researchers measure the brain activity of recipients considering unfair offers, consistent activation is shown in an area called the anterior insula, which is known to be the cortical hub for visceral signals corresponding to emotional distress.
Why would the brain’s default mode be to reject something in favor of nothing? Cognitive scientists have discovered that such seemingly irrational behavior often has an adaptive purpose. Rejection of unfair treatment, for example, has the purpose of enforcing social norms about the allocation of resources. Acceptance of an unfair offer now all but guarantees continued mistreatment at the hands of the allocator, whereas rejection sends a clear message: Don’t take advantage of me, and don’t help yourself to more than you deserve.— Dan Meegan
Share
Sign In to comment on this quote
